A Chymical Dictionary

Reading Route Through the Body and Its Descriptions

Begin with Tartarum and Realgar. Both connect a mineral or material vocabulary with the human body. Attend to the compiler’s markers of usage: often and metaphorically do different work.

Compare Ragadiæ, Rana and Sephirus. Their descriptions identify a condition through bodily place or qualities. Then read Sedativa, Repercussiva and Stiptica, where remedies are grouped through attributed action. These are different ways of classifying historical medical terms.

Discussion questions. Which definitions identify a place, a visible condition or an attributed cause? What does a therapeutic action word add? When would a modern diagnosis go beyond the information supplied? How can a commentary make an old claim intelligible while keeping it attributed to its source?